Williams Era Begins in D.C.

NEW HAVEN, Conn.
-- [The official start to] The Tom Williams era begins
Saturday, Sept. 19, when the Yale football team opens the 2009
season at Georgetown. The Bulldogs and Hoyas, who have already
played two games, kick it off at 1 pm at Multi-Sport Field and can
be seen live streamed on GUHoyas.com and
heard on WELI (AM-960, 960weli.com) and WYBC (AM-1340, wybc.com).

SERIES

Yale has won both meetings with the
Patriot League Hoyas. The first was a 28-14 game in 2007 in Yale's
first trip to Washington, D.C. Last fall, the Bulldogs opened the
season at home with a 47-7 win and have now outscored Georgetown by
a combined 75-21.

LAST YEAR AT THE BOWL

The Elis won by 40 points in front of
12,771 while having 498 yards of total offense compared to 230 by
Georgetown. Jordan Forney (Bloomington, Ind.), who caught a 61-yard
non-scoring pass from Ryan Fodor, had a pair of TD grabs. The Elis
picked off three Hoyas passes, including a 60-yard TD return by CB
Adam Money (Whiteland, Ind.).

YALE TESTS UNION

The Bulldogs reached the end zone five
times, booted one field goal, picked off three passes and had a
number of fine individual performances in a 36-14 scrimmage win
over Union at Yale Bowl on Sept. 5. Sophomore RB Alex Thomas
(Ansonia, Conn.) was the only Eli with two TDs, a two-yard run and
a 54-yard pass play. Sophomore Patrick Witt (Wylie, Texas) and
junior Brook Hart (State College, Pa.) got most of the work behind
center while throwing to nine different receivers. The Bulldog
defense came up with three interceptions in the first half. Senior
DB Larry Abare (Acton, Mass.) picked a pass on the visitor's
opening possession and returned the ball 19 yards to set up a TD.
Sophomore DB Drew Baldwin (Alexandria, Va.) had an interception
before junior DB John Pagliaro (Lutherville, Md.) grabbed a
deflected pass out of the air on the goal line and brought it out
to the 16.

THE HOYAS

Georgetown, which opened with a 20-7
loss to No. 25 Holy Cross on Sept. 5, is coming off a 28-3 loss at
home to Lafayette last Saturday night in the school's first night
game at Multi-Sport Field. Lafayette outrushed the Hoyas 205 to 19
and forced three turnovers: two fumbles and an interception.

COACH WILLIAMS

Tom Williams was named the Joel E.
Smilow '54 Head Coach of Yale Football last January and came to New
Haven after spending two seasons as an assistant for the NFL's
Jacksonville Jaguars. Williams has 11 seasons of college coaching
experience. He is the 33rd Yale head football but just the third in
the last 44 years. He replaces Jack Siedlecki, who retired last
November after 12 seasons and a 70-49 record.

CATCHING WILLIAMS

Williams can be heard Monday nights on
WYBC (AM-1340) from 8 to 8:30 on the Yale Sports Monday Show. The
Yale segment of the weekly Ivy League media teleconference is 11:53
AM on Tuesdays, while he and some of his players will be at the
Yale Bookstore every Tuesday at 2 p.m. for the Dick Galiette Press
Conference.

FIRST-YEAR BLUE (S)

Tom Williams begins his Yale career
following a full spectrum of success in debut seasons. The best
debut campaign for a Yale head coach was the first, Walter Camp
(13-0 and National Champs) in 1888. The next 20 coaches enjoyed
comparable success in the early years of the sport. However, wins
for new coaches in the later part of the 20th century did not come
so easily. Two of the five Eli mentors since 1950 had better than
.500 marks, Jordan Olivar (7-2 in 1952) and John Pont (6-3 in
1963). Herman Hickman went 4-5 in 1948, Carm Cozza was 3-6 in 1965
and Jack Siedlecki was 1-9 in 1997.

HUSKY CONNECTION

Four members of the current Yale
coaching staff worked together at the University of Washington 10
years ago. Tom Williams was the ILB coach in 1999, Ikaika Malloe
was a graduate assistant, Mike Preston was an assistant OL coach
and Brian Stark was the offensive program director. The Huskies
went 7-5 and fell to Kansas State in the Holiday Bowl. Three of the
four remained for the 2000 team that went 11-1 and beat Purdue in
the Rose Bowl.

WILLIAMS "ON THE AIR" IN 2009

Day Time Venue Event

Mondays 8 pm WYBC Radio Yale Sports
Monday at Lansdowne

Tuesdays 11:53 am Ivy Teleconference
Media Call-in with questions

Tuesdays 2 pm Yale Bookstore Galiette
Press Conference

STAFF NOTES

Two Yale assistant coaches spent time
last summer at NFL training camps as intern coaches. Kefense
Hynson, who works with Yale's receivers, was with Oakland. Ikaika
Malloe, the Joel E. Smilow '54 Defensive Coordinator, worked with
Jacksonville... Mike Sanford, the mentor for the Yale TEs, is the
son of UNLV football head coach Mike Sanford... Student assistant
coach Isaiah DeLeon-Mares worked with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last
summer.

OPENER MONTH

Yale's all-time September record is
107-32-3, including 116-18-3 on opening day. This is the third
straight year the Blue has opened the season with Georgetown.

IVY PICKS

Yale was picked fourth in the 2009 Ivy
League pre-season media poll. Harvard, Penn and Brown were the top
three while Princeton, Columbia, Cornell and Dartmouth rounded out
the list. Athlon's has Yale sixth.

WELI RADIO

NEWS/Talk 960 WELI broadcasts all Yale
football games on AM (960) and online at weli.com. Yale football
coaching legend Carm Cozza, a 2003 College Football Hall of Fame
inductee, is in his 12th season as the color commentator for WELI
broadcasts. Ron Vaccaro '04 returns for his fourth year as
play-by-play announcer. Vaccaro is a two-time Emmy Award winner for
his work with NBC Olympics, his primary employer since 2004. His
on-air resume also includes the 2008 Beijing Olympics for NBC and
the 2009 World Swimming Championships for Universal Sports.
Engineer Tom Ivanovich and spotter Kevin Guarino add the finishing
touches to the broadcasts.

PAGS ON PAGS

John Pagliaro '78, the former
All-America Yale RB and two-time Ivy League MVP, will be a guest
commentator on WELI during the third quarter of the Yale opener at
Georgetown. Pagliaro's son, John (Lutherville, Md.), is a junior DB
for the Bulldogs.

WYBC RADIO

WYBC (AM 1340) also covers each game.
WFAN Radio personality Bob Heussler, WYBC's Director of Football
Radio Broadcasts, and Anthony Brooks '03 MM, the station's sports
coordinator, lead a talented group of Yale students who can also be
heard on wybc.com. Yale football is also included in WYBC's Monday
night sports lineup from Lansdowne Bar & Grill (179 Crown
Street). At 8 pm, Tom Williams, the Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach
of Yale Football, makes a weekly appearance on "Yale Sports
Monday."

TEAMLINE

Another way to listen to Yale games
live is by calling TEAMLINE at 800.846.4700 and using Yale's code
5682.

BULLDOGS AT BOOKSTORE

The Dick Galiette/Yale Football Press
Conference has moved from the Course at Yale back to campus with
the first edition on Sept. 15. The new location is the Yale
Bookstore, which will host this event for the next 10 Tuesdays at 2
p.m. Coach Williams and a selection of players will take part in
the press conferences that are streamed live by Sportingnewsct.com.
They will take place on the second floor where all the book
signings are done. The press conferences are open to the public,
but questions for Williams and his players are limited to the
working media. The Yale Bookstore is also the sponsor of the Yale
Sports Hotline (203.432.YALE), where Yale fans get game-day scores
without going to their computers.

NETCASTS/PODCASTS

Ron Vaccaro '04 hosts a series of
video netcast interviews, which will include the Yale football team
and other Yale athletics content, on yalebulldogs.com. Vaccaro also
has a set of audio netcasts featuring the team for Apple iTunes
users at itunes.yale.edu.

YALE FB FEATURED ON BACK PAGE

Yale football was the featured subject
of the inaugural Back Page TV Show hosted by ESPN Radio's Jason
Page. The show airs Sept. 24 at 7:30 pm on CTSN (Comcast 185 &
187 and Cox 144). Former coaches Carm Cozza and Jack Siedlecki took
part in the studio event along with ex-Bulldogs Rich Diana '82, Pat
Ruwe '83 and Chandler Henley '07, while current head coach Tom
Williams was interviewed for the show.

FCS RANKINGS

Yale received four votes for national
rankings in the first Sports Network Top 25 poll and was up to
seven in week No. 2. The Bulldogs, who had one vote this week, were
last ranked among the top 25 at the end of the 2007 season.

TENNIS AT THE BOWL

Ninety-five-year old Yale Bowl hosted
the world's largest (312 x 144 feet) tennis court in August during
the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament as part of a promotion by
Sony-Ericcson. WTA star Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark), two-time
defending tourney champion, took part in the promo along with Yale
coach Tom Williams. Wozniacki, who later spoke to the Bulldogs at a
Yale football practice, received a team jersey a few days before
making it to the 2009 U.S. Open final.

Yale has scored 30 or more points 305
times with a record of 297-7-1 in those games. The seven losses
were against Penn in 1972 (30-48), Cornell in 1990 (31-41), Lehigh
in 1994 (32-36), Brown in 2001 (34-37), Penn in 2003 (31-34 in
overtime), Brown in 2003 (44-55) and Princeton in 2006 (31-34). The
tie was in 1931 against Dartmouth (33-33).

BENCHED BULLDOGS

Seven former Yale football players are
working in the game this fall, either in the college or pro ranks.
Mike McCaskey '65, chairman of the Chicago Bears, Buffalo head
coach Dick Jauron '73, Bob Wallace '78 (Executive V.P. and General
Council, St. Louis Rams) and New England assistant coach Pat Graham
'01 are the Bulldogs in the NFL. Bob Shoop '88, defensive
coordinator at William & Mary, Merchant Marine Academy
offensive coordinator Kyle Metzler '02 and Bobby Abare '09,
linebackers coach at Wagner, work at colleges.

BROTHER YALE

Seven current Bulldogs have brothers
who play or played Yale football. Current Yale football brother
combinations include junior OLB Sean and freshman QB Scott Williams
(Portland, Ore.) and junior DB Marcus and senior OLB Jack Wallace
(Germantown, Wis.).

KICKING CORNER

Tom Mante (Westford, Mass.), a senior
P/PK who earned All-Ivy honors last fall, was arguably among the
most valuable Elis in 2008. He had a league-high 25 punts inside
the 20-yard line while his 41.0 average allowed the Blue to rank
5th in net punting among FCS schools. Mante connected on eight of
12 FG attempts. Junior Alex Barnes (Chesterfield, Mo.), who split
the uprights on a PAT and had a 51-yard punt in the Union
scrimmage, is challenging Mante each week at practice. Freshman
Phillipe Panico's 58-yard FG (which may be a record for a Yale
recruit) in high school is good sign for the future.

COUNTRY BOY WITH GIFT OF GAB

Can you picture a 290-pound guy in bib
overalls running an auction? If you could, it might be freshman OL
Jeff Marrs (Garden Prairie, Ill.), who grew up on a farm of about
2,000 acres near Rockford, Ill. Marrs, his brother and grandfather
are all auctioneers. The 6-foot-3, 290-pound former all-state
lineman will compete for a starting job this fall.

CALLING ALL BULLDOGS

Approximately 90 members of the Yale
football team worked their phones on the night of Sept. 9 to call
all season ticket clients and thank them for supporting the
Bulldogs. The 450 calls took 20 minutes. Jeremy Makins, Yale's
Director of Ticket Operations, had asked Tom Williams for 15 or 20
players to make the calls. The Yale head coach told Makins that the
players do everything as a team, so every available Eli took part.
The players, mostly using their own cell phones, identified
themselves completely and talked about the 2009 season. Williams,
who was traveling to a Yale Club of Boston event on the 9th, wanted
to make the first few calls himself from the road. He was
pleasantly surprised to find that one of the season ticket holders
he called was headed for the same event. "This was a great way to
make season ticket holders feel closer to the team," said Makins.

CAPTAIN RICE

Paul Rice (Cleveland Heights, Ohio), a
senior LB, is the 132nd Yale football captain. He came to Yale as a
talented RB but moved to defense when asked to his freshman year.
He started at CB the last three years before moving to LB this
season. His father, Lou Rice, played defense for Harvard.

CRIMSON BROTHERS

QB Patrick Witt (Wylie, Texas) and OL
Gabriel Fernandez (Honolulu, Hawaii), both transfers to Yale this
fall, have brothers who played at Harvard. Witt, who played five
games last year as the backup at Nebraska, follows his brother,
Jeff (class of 2009), into the Ivy League. Fernandez, a former UCLA
walk-on, watched his brother, Frank (2007) become a first-team
All-Ivy offensive lineman.

AIRING IT OUT

The "air" game has added meaning for
Patrick Witt, whose parents are both commercial pilots and
captains. His father flys MD88s for Delta while his mother does the
same for American.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Sophomore LB Austin Pulsipher
(Temecula, Calif.) came to Yale three years ago and was part of the
2006 Ivy League co-championship team before heading to greater
Taipei, Taiwan for a two-year Mormon mission. He became fluent in
Mandarin Chinese, served in many leadership roles and taught a drug
rehabilitation program while managing the finances of over 150
missionaries.

HAWAIIAN FRIDAYS

Three members of the Yale coaching
staff have ties to Hawaii, and Tom Williams has instituted Hawaiin
Fridays in the football office. Any staffers caught without a
Hawaain style shirt on a Friday on the third floor of Ray Tompkins
House is subject to a one dollar fine. Gabriel Fernandez (Honolulu)
is the first Yale football player from Hawaii in 10 years. WR Jimmy
Bennett '00 (Honolulu), who played on the 1999 Ivy League
championship squad, was the last Eli from the 50th state.

TEAM USA

Freshman DB Kurt Stottlemyer (Bothell,
Wash.) played for USA Football in the inaugural International
Federation of American Football's (IFAF) 2009 Junior World
Championship at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio from June 27 to
July 5. The American squad defeated Canada 41-3 to win the
championship on July 5. Stottlemyer played FS in a five-defensive
back (3-3-5) defense. He had tackles in each game on defense and
special teams and made a sack in the semi-final game against
Mexico. "It was just a great experience. I got to practice with
some of the best players in the nation for a month and I got to
meet kids from all over the world. It's a great feeling to be able
to play for your country and represent the USA," said the Eli
newcomer.

DOGS WELCOME AT LANSDOWNE

A dog-friendly bar is open in New
Haven this fall. Yale coaches and athletes will frequent Lansdowne
Bar & Grill (179 Crown Street) Monday nights from 7-9 for WYBC
Radio's sports lineup. At 8, Tom Williams, the Joel E. Smilow '54
Head Coach of Yale Football, makes a weekly appearance on "Yale
Sports Monday" with Anthony Brooks'03 MM and Sam Purdy ‘10.
Athletes and coaches from all sports, including football, will be
interviewed each week on "Yale Sports Monday" from 8-9. From 7-8
Michael Dunn '10 and Sam Levander '10 host "Cover 2 Sports," a
comprehensive national sports talk show.

SIX JV GAMES

The first of six Yale JV games kicks
off at 1 pm on Sunday, Sept. 27, on Clint Frank Field. The only
road contest is on Oct. 4 at Brown. the only non-Sunday afternoon
game is the Friday, Nov. 20, showdown with Harvard.

TRUE BLUE ROSTER

The 2009 Yale football roster includes
60 high school football captains and 41 captains of other sports.
The Elis also list 52 National Honor Society members, six student
body presidents, six valedictorians and three salutatorians.

ELI VOTE

A survey of this fall's Yale squad
revealed interesting character traits about its members. Here are
the results of the voting on Bulldog players:

Next Saturday's home opener is also
Yale Youth Day. Included in the day's events are youth games at the
Bowl before and after the Sept. 26 Yale-Cornell contest. New Haven
middle schools Betsy Ross and.Wexler-Grant kick the day off at 9
a.m., while the Shoreline League game pitting North Haven vs. East
Haven is set for 4 p.m.

BULLDOG HOLIDAY

Yale may be the only football team in
America to have had a state holiday decreed because of its visit.
In 1929 (80 years ago this fall) when Yale visited the University
of Georgia to be its dedication opponent for the opening of Sanford
Stadium, the governor issued a proclamation making the day a legal
holiday in honor of Yale University and of the Yale men who founded
the state university in Georgia.

YALE ON TV

Eight Yale football games will air
live on TV this fall, including four of five home games. Yale on
YES is back for a second season with three straight Ivy League
games (Columbia, Brown, Princeton) on the network of the New York
Yankees. The YES Network, available nationally on DirecTV,
Verizon's FiOS service and on select cable systems, is the
country's No. 1 regional sports network. Two contests (Cornell,
Harvard) will be broadcast on Versus, the national cable home of
the National Hockey League that is in more than 73 million homes.
Other Yale games aired in 2009 include Penn (Comcast), Lafayette
(RCN) and Lehigh (Service Electric 2).

CAMPING OUT

The Bulldogs have begun a tradition
befitting the school responsible for shaping the game of football.
Prior to every home game, Coach Williams will gather the team under
the Walter Camp Field Memorial (see photo) to remind the Bulldogs
of their proud heritage. Walter Camp '1880, who coached the Blue
(67-2) for five seasons and was instrumental in shaping the rules
as we know them, is commonly referred to as the father of American
football.

YORKSIDE AT BOWL

The Yale Bowl may be in West Haven,
but the press box has a taste of New Haven with Yorkside Pizza
& Restaurant serving slices and salad on home Saturdays. Rather
than interrupting your work with a lunch at halftime, the food is
now served on its arrival before kickoff.

IVY WEEKLY TELECONFERENCES

The Ivy League will hold a weekly
football coaches' teleconference every Tuesday during the 2009
season beginning September 15 and running through November 17. Each
teleconference will begin at 11 a.m. ET. Each coach will be
available for a seven-minute window to preview his team's upcoming
opponent and answer questions from the media. A replay of the
teleconferences will be made available on www.IvyLeagueSports.com.
To access the call, use the following (877) 548-7906 and Passcode:
9204583.

Ivy Teleconference Schedule

11:04 am Phil Estes, Brown

11:11 am Norries Wilson, Columbia

11:18 am Jim Knowles, Cornell

11:25 am Buddy Teevens, Dartmouth

11:32 am Tim Murphy, Harvard

11:39 am Al Bagnoli, Penn

11:46 am Roger Hughes, Princeton

11:53 am Tom Williams, Yale

THE GAME IN IMAX

A documentary film titled GameDay that
will include footage from the 2009 Yale-Harvard game will appear in
IMAX 3D theatres around the country later this fall. The film will
provide an all access pass to college football focusing on the
preparation, traditions, rivalries and pageantry.

100 YEARS AGO

This November the Yale/Harvard contest
in the Bowl will mark the one hundredth anniversary of the historic
National Championship Game of 1909.The 1909 Yale-Harvard game, an
8-0 Bulldogs win, featured two undefeated teams (the next matchup
of undefeated squads in The Game was in 1968). Yale won the
national championship and preserved its unbeaten, untied and
unscored on marks. Three future members of the Football Hall of
Fame suited up for the game. For Yale: fullback Ted Coy and end
John Reed Kilpatrick and for Harvard: tackle Hamilton Fish. A
reunion of family members is planned for this November's game.